The new year won't be any easier on compliance officials at banks and money services businesses, and could get much harder depending on how U.S. officials implement new and proposed regulations, according to industry leaders.
Bank closings and enforcement actions for capital requirement and credit risk violations didn't preclude law enforcement and regulatory officials from pursuing banks for violating U.S. and international sanctions in 2009 or from leaning on financial institutions to catch tax cheats.
New Year's Eve may have come and gone and all of the post-celebration headaches faded, but financial institutions are going to need many more months to recover from 2008.
Regulators spent less face time addressing AML concerns as the lion's share of regulatory attention was devoted to subprime lending standards and the broader credit crisis. But, when financial regulators and the Justice Department weighed in, they did so heavily, assessing record penalties.
Now that the confetti has settled and the kazoos have been packed away for next year's parties, anti-money laundering compliance officers consider what lies ahead in 2008.
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